The History of the Dakota Mission

In the spring of 1834, Samuel and Gideon Pond, brothers from Washington, Connecticut, arrived at Fort Snelling intending to serve as missionaries to the Dakota. They became the first of scores of men and women who came to the Minnesota River Valley as volunteer missionaries. Below is a brief history of the Dakota Mission and a list of helpful resources.

Building the Mission at Lake Calhoun

Samuel and Gideon Pond did not have authorization to be missionaries when they arrived at Fort Snelling in 1834. Luckily, Indian Agent Lawrence Taliaferro hired them to plow fields and plant corn for Chief Cloudman’s village near Lake Calhoun (now Minneapolis, Minnesota). Undaunted, the Pond brothers built a crude log structure on the east side of Lake Calhoun to serve as their home and a mission station.

Alexander Huggins, his wife Lydia, and their two children, Amos and Jane

After organizing the Church of St. Peter’s at Fort Snelling, the first Presbyterian church in the territory, Williamson, Huggins, and their families moved to Lac qui Parle (near present day Montevideo, Minnesota) at the request of Mr. Joseph R. Renville. The second party included:

Mr. Jedediah D. Stevens, his wife Julia, their two sons, Jonathan and Evarts

Stevens’ niece Cornelia Stevens

Stevens established a mission station near Lake Harriet (now Minneapolis, Minnesota).

Rev. Stephen Riggs and his wife, Mary arrived at Fort Snelling in June, 1837. They served briefly at Lake Harriet, then at Lac qui Parle until 1842.

Over the next few years, the Pond brothers served at Lake Harriet and Lac qui Parle. Due to conflicts between the Ojibwe and Dakota, the Lake Calhoun mission was disbanded in 1840, and the Ponds moved back under the protective watch of Fort Snelling, settling near Camp Cold Water.

Along the Banks of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers

Two new mission stations were established along the Minnesota River in 1843 –Traverse des Sioux and Oak Grove. Rev. Stephen R. Riggs and his family, returned from their furlough in Ohio in May, 1843 with Mr. Robert Hopkins and his 17-year-old pregnant wife, Agnes. Rev. Riggs established a new station at Traverse des Sioux (now St. Peter, Minnesota) where the Riggs and Hopkins families served until 1851.

In 1843, Gideon Pond and Eli Pettijohn built a double log house at the top of the bluff at Oak Grove (now Bloomington, Minnesota) to serve as both a mission and a home for the Pond brothers’ growing families. Gideon married Sarah Poage (Margaret Williamson’s sister) in November 1837, and Samuel married Cordelia Eggleston (Julia Eggleston Stevens’s sister) one year later. Samuel Pond and his family left the Oak Grove Mission in 1847 to establish a new mission station at Prairieville (now Shakopee).

A Changing Landscape

After the treaties of 1851, the Dakota were removed to reservations in western Minnesota. With the closing of the Oak Grove Mission, Gideon organized the Oak Grove Chapel in 1855 which later became Oak Grove Presbyterian Church. He served as minister there until 1873, just five years before his death in 1878. Samuel Pond remained in at Prairieville and organized a group of believers that became the First Presbyterian Church of Shakopee in 1855.

Williamson moved west with the Dakota and established a new mission at Pajutazee (Yellow Medicine) near Granite Falls, Minnesota in 1852. Riggs and his family also moved west and established a community called Hazelwood in 1854. Rev. Dr. Thomas S. Williamson’s son Rev. John P. Williamson established the Zoar Mission near Morton, Minnesota in 1860. These three mission stations were active until the outbreak of the U.S. Dakota War.

Dakota Mission Resources

Here is a brief list of resources about the Dakota Mission and its missionaries. This list will be expanded in the future.